Chapter 9 The Gulf of Cádiz continental shelves

Abstract

AbstractThe continental shelves fringing the Gulf of Cádiz are shallow-water environments of high scientific interest as they record the complex interplay between competing sedimentary, tectonic and oceanographic processes. These shelves receive the contributions of fluvial sources of varying significance, evolving laterally to shelf segments dominated by a vigorous oceanographic regime. In the long term, the Gulf of Cádiz margins show lateral physiographical compartmentalization related to the structural imprint.Recent approaches on the Iberian Shelf have focused on the study of shelf sedimentary processes and long-term evolutionary patterns through the application of high-resolution seismic-sequence stratigraphy concepts. The Late Quaternary record exhibits extensive regressive-lowstand shelf-margin deltas mostly comprising nested sequences disposed in a hierarchical pattern. This complex architecture has been attributed to the leading control of orbitally driven, climatic–eustatic changes. As a result, the Iberian Shelf constitutes an excellent location to study the interaction between sedimentary processes, climatic and sea-level changes. Recently collected data in the Moroccan Shelf allow a high-resolution seismic-sequence stratigraphy scheme to be established. Significant latitudinal changes on depositional sequence architecture are driven by differential accommodation led by the reactivation of deformational fronts during the Pleistocene. As a consequence, this southern shelf constitutes a good example of tectonic control on sequence stratigraphy.